Former rock star Xander Sinclair may be out of rehab, but he’s not out of the woods. Still haunted by his parents’ murders, he has secluded himself in his Amesport mansion and dodges any attempted contact from his two brothers. Struggling not to fall into relapse, he believes he’s battling his demons alone.

That is, until Samantha arrives to work as his live-in housekeeper. Effortlessly charming and cheerful and wickedly sexy, she challenges Xander to abandon his isolation. The two embark on a fiery relationship—one that could change them both forever.

Just when Xander is on the verge of reclaiming his life, he discovers that Samantha has been hiding things from him…things that could shatter the fragile future they’ve begun to build together. For Xander, escaping the past is no longer an option. It’s time to face it—even when some secrets seem too heavy for the heart to bear.

Exclusive Excerpt

For the first time since I’d met Xander, I felt completely vulnerable. It wasn’t a situation I’d ever wanted to experience, but I couldn’t avoid it. I’d gotten too close, near enough to get burned, but the pull of my desire for him was too damn painful to ignore anymore.

Instinctively, I knew if he touched me, everything was going to be different. It would change our relationship. It wasn’t going to be like the first time. But I couldn’t bring myself to care enough about being at his mercy to give a damn.

My need was too strong.

My desire was too white-hot.

And my feelings for this broken man who was trying so damn hard to figure things out were too raw.

knew him.

I understood him.

And for some strange reason, he was the one who made my loneliness easier to bear. Xander had penetrated a part of me that I allowed no one to enter, and now that he was there, I wanted more.

He’d dropped me on the center of the bed, my head resting on the pillows. His powerful arms had lifted me like I was no heavier than a rag doll, without even a small grimace on his face.

I turned my head to see him towering over me, even though he was on his knees. Xander was a big man. But that wasn’t what I noticed the most.

With him completely nude, I could see every scar, and my heart wept as I looked at his ripped body covered in what had once been critical injuries that had nearly killed him.

I rolled onto my side and reached up to touch a large white line on his chest, then proceeded to stroke every stab wound I could see on his torso and defined abs. I felt his body tense, but he didn’t pull away.

“I told you that you didn’t want to see my body,” he rasped.

Oh, he was so very wrong. “I do want to see it. I also want to touch it. You’re strong, Xander. These wounds probably should have killed you, but you survived.”

“My body is a mess,” he said hesitantly.

“It’s amazing,” I corrected, my fingers finally tracing over the tattoo that he had on both biceps. “What’s this?”

“It’s a tat,” he answered in a husky voice.

I bit back a laugh. “I know that. What does it mean?”

He still looked uncomfortable that my eyes were eating up the sight of his naked body as he answered, “They’re Celtic. Our ancestors were Irish. Honestly, they don’t mean a hell of a lot. I went out and got hammered with my band when we got our first record deal. So we all went to the tattoo shop and got tattoos. I just asked them to do something Celtic.”

I loved the one I was fondling, and I traced the head of the black dragon that fanned out on his bicep with Celtic knots entwined together. “Turn,” I requested.

He did, and I ran my fingers over the large sword on the opposite side engraved on his upper arm. “They’re beautiful. You were lucky that you got a good artist,” I mused. Getting a tattoo when you’re drunk could be dangerous. He could have ended up with something totally not him. But both tats suited him, and his strength.

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About the Author

J.S. Scott is a NY Times & USA Today bestselling author of erotic romance. She's an avid reader of all types of books and literature. Writing what she loves to read, J.S. Scott writes both contemporary erotic romance stories and paranormal romance erotics. They almost always feature an Alpha Male and have a happily ever after because she just can't seem to write them any other way! She lives with her husband in the picturesque Colorado Rockies. You can write to the author at jsscott_author@hotmail.com.

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